[X4U] Partitioning question

[Randy B.Singer]

Kevin Willis said:

>I am interested in partitioning my 120 GB hard drive into 2 60 GB  
>drives.  I currently have about 40 GB of data on it.  If I were to  
>defragment the drive, would I then be able to partition it without  
>losing my data?


Not using Disk Utility you couldn't.  (You would have to back up, 
partition (which wipes your data), and then restore your data.)

But there are several third party utilties that claim to reliably allow 
you to partition without having to erase your drive.

iPartition
http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iPartition.php

Drive Genius
http://www.prosoftengineering.com/products/drive_genius_info.php

DiskStudio
http://micromat.com/diskstudio/ds_introduction.html

StorDirector
http://www.commandsoft.com/product_stordir.jsp

VolumeWorks
http://www.subrosasoft.com/thestore/product_info.php?products_id=431

Personally I would be too afraid to use any of these utilities without 
having a complete backup of all of my data first.


Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

Routine OS X Maintenance and Generic Troubleshooting
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html